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Two ISAF soldiers shot in Kabul

Two soldiers with the International Security Force were wounded in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday when unidentified attackers opened fire on a patrol vehicle.

13 May 2003 14:53 GMT

A force of 4,500 maintains thethe Karzai government in Kabul

The ambush took place on a road in the northern part of the city.

German Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Loeborring told reporters that the wounded soldiers had been travelling back to Kabul near Bagram airport shortly after midday.

“They were shot at. Two of them have been hit. The injured are now under medical treatment in the ISAF military hospital,” he said.

Afghan security

At present, there are about 4,500 ISAF troops in Afghanistan representing more than 20 countries. Germany and the Netherlands are jointly command the force.

ISAF forces were deployed in 2001 to maintain security in the Afghan capital after the fall of the Taliban.

US soldiers are also in the region fighting alongside about 1,000 Afghan soldiers in their attempt to eradicate suspected fighters sympathetic to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and ex-mujahideen leader during the 1980's liberation war against the Soviet Union, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Two US Special Forces soldiers were killed and one wounded in March when their convoy was ambushed in southwest Afghanistan.

The Aljazeera correspondent in Kabul, Hashmet Moslih, reports that of late there has been a flurry of underground activity between influential Afghanis opposed to the international presence.